Improvement in railroad-car brakes



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

JOSEPH HOUGH, OF BUCKINGHAM, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILROAD-CAR BRAKES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,166, dated April 14, 1863.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JosEPH HoUGH, of Buckingham, in the county of Bucks and State ot Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Railroad-Gar Brake; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference beinghad to the accompanyii g drawings, ma': ing a part of this speciticatirn,` in which- Figure lis a side view of a por tion of a locomotive and a ear with my invention applied to them, the wheels ofthe locomotive and car nearest the eye being rnnoved; Fig. 2, an inverted plan of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre,l sponding parts in the gures.

The object of this invention is to obtain a car-brake by which all the brakes of a series of cars comprising a train may be operated simultaneously bythe engineer, and the brak( s made to act with an equal or uniform pressure on all the wheefs of the several cars, the invention at the same time admitting of a bra-keman applying the brakes at either end of a train after a locomotive is detached.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, l will proceed to describe it.

A represents the runninggear of a passenger-car, and B a portion of the running-gear of a locomotive.

C represents the brake-bars, and D the shoes, the upper ends of which are suspended from the platform of the passenger'car by means ot' joists, a, as shown in Fig. l, the brake-bars being attached tothe shoes D. The brake-bars of each truck are connected by a rod, E, and lever F, said rods having hooks b formed in their inner ends, which are fitted in eyes c at the ends of screws d, which pass through the centers of the inner brakevbars and through nuts e e. The outer ends of the rods E are connected to the lower ends of the levers F, the fulcrnm-pns fof which a-re in screws H, which pass through the centers of the outer brake-bars C and through nuts g. The upper ends of the levers F F have rods H H connected to them. The

inner ends of these rods H H have each two chains, I I, attached to them, and these chains are connected to horizontal arms J J, which project from opposite sides of a vertical pendent shaft, K, suspended from the platform of the passenger-car in such a manner that it may turn freely. A chain, I, of each rod H' is attached one to each arm J, as will be understood by referring to Fig. 2. The shaft K has an arm, L, which projects horizontally from it, and this arm L extends through a slotin a sliding bar, M, which is fitted in p nlent guidesN, attached to tie platform of the passenger-car. The arm L has an oblong slot, h, made in it, tlr ugh which and the bar M a pin, z', passes. The oblong slot h, it will be seen, admits of the moving of the arm L and the turning of the shaft K under the rectilinear movement of the bar M. The har M is connected atits endsby chains N to the usual rods at the ends of the cars, which rods have hand-wheels on their upper ends. These rods are not represented, as they are well known and in common use.

O O represent the buffer-heads of the passenger-car. These buffer-heads are on the endsrof sliding bars P, which are fitted in the pendent guides Q, attached to the platform. The inner ends of the bars P are connected by pins or pivots j to one end of bars Q', which are attached at their opposite ends to the under side of the platform by pivots lr, on which the bars are allowed to work or turn freely, and at the inre41 end of cach bar P there isa pulley, R.

S S are two pulleys which are fittedin fixed pendants T, attached to the platform.

U U are two sliding bars, which are fitted in proper pendent guides, Q, QX, the former of which, Q., serve as guides t'or the ba rs P. These bars U are placed at each end of the platform and they have each a bend, 7J, in them which are at right angles with the other portions of the rods. (See Fig. 2.) Gn each bar U there is placed a spiral spring V, one end of which bearsl against the bent part k', and the other end against the inner guides QX.

W lV are two chains which are attached, one to each bar U, saidvchains being connected to screws l, which pass through thebcntpart It of said bars. (See Fig. 2.) The chains \V W pass around the back parts of the pulleys R at the back ends of the bars P, and around the front parts of the pulleys S S, and are attached to the sliding bar M, one at each side of the arm L, as shown at mA m in Fig. 2. By this arrangement it will be seen that the springs V will keep the bars P, and consequently the buffer-heads, thrust out from the platform to their fullest extent, or as far as they are designed to move, the bars P being provided with pins n, to serve as stops, the pins bearing against the Aguides QX. (See Fig. l.) The chains NV W, therefore, `will always be taut, even if the buffer-heads are forced inward, for the pulleys S S R R, owing to the chains W W passing around them, as shown and described, will eEect this result. The bars U are all connectedin a train of cars, and the front bar U of the forward car has a chain, X, attached to it, which is connectedto a shaft,Y having its bearings in pendants Z, which are suspended by hinges o. (SeeFig. l.) On each end of the shaftY there is a wheel A', and these Wheels are in line with the heads of the wheels B' ofthe locomotive. (See Fig. 2.)

The operation is as follows: A train of cars in passing along may be broke up by the engineer, who, by means of a lever or any suitable mechanism, throws the wheels A' of the shaftY in contact with the treads ot' the wheels B', and thereby causes the shaft Y to rotate and the chain X to be wound upon it. The bars U are in consequence operated or drawn forward, and the bar M of each car moved and the arms L turned so that the arms J of the several shafts Kwill actuate one chain I of each rod H' of each car, andfthereby operate the brakes or cause the shoes to b e pressed against the wheels. The same result is attained when the ears are going in another di rection, the arms J J operating upon the other chains I of each rod H' when turned in' one direction, and operating upon the other, I,

being kept taut at all times, is an important feature of the invention, and it will be seen that this end is fully attained by the arrangev the engineer or an assistant.

ment ofthe pulleysR S and the bars P and Q', the latter turning on the pivots j as the bars P are moved. This keeping of the chains W W taut insures an instantaneous action vof the brakes as the bars U are operated.

I wouldremark that the cars may be coupled together in the usual or in any proper way.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isy I 1. The manner of winding up the chain X to operate the'bars U-to wit, by having the shaftY fitted in swinging pendants Z, attached to the locomotive and provided with wheels A', which are brought into Contact wit-h the treads ofthe wheels B' or with theaxle thereof` by any suitable mechanism under the hand of 2. The bars U,provide'd with the spiral spring V, when arranged in connection lwith the chains W W and buffer-head bars P, to operate substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth v 3. rIhe sliding bar M, in connection with the arm L, shaft K, provided with the arms J J, and the chains I, connected to the arms J J and the rods H' H' of the brake mechanism, arranged substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

4. The arrangement of theI chains l W, fixed pulleys S, and the pulleys It onl the but'- fer-head bars P, and thepivoted bars Q', to operate as shown and keep the chains W W at a proper state ot' tension during the movement of the bars P, as specified.

I 5. The combination of the buffer-head bars P, bars U, chains W. W, pulleys R S, slidebars M, arm L, shaft K with arms JJ, at-Vr tached chains I I and rods H H', the latter being connected with the brake mechanism, and all arranged to operate as and for the same purpose herein set forth.

JOSEPH HOUGH. 

